That's a very personal hymn,
wasn't it? Break thou the bread of life, dear Lord, to me. If we could sing that from the
heart, that's our prayer. I believe the Lord will bless
your word. Teach me to love thy truth. Show me the truth concealed in
thy word. Now I look at Revelation 10.
Well, we will look through these verses a little bit, but the
subject, the title, is found in these two verses, verses 9
and 10. And it went unto the angel, said
unto him, give me the little book. And he said unto me, take
it, eat it up. It shall make thy belly bitter,
but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey. And I took the
little book out of the angel's hand and ate it up. It was in
my mouth sweet as honey. As soon as I'd eaten it, my belly
was bitter. Bitter sweet word of our God. Now, what I want us to see tonight
is that when we speak of God's word, we're not talking about
a book per se. The letter. This is God's This
is God's heart. This is God's voice. This is
how God speaks to us. Not just a book like any other
book. No. It's written. Thank God it's
written. But this is how God speaks to
us. His word. And it's a, it's a,
it's a manifest, it's a revelation of Him. Who He is. It's His mind. It's His heart.
It's his thoughts. It's his ways. It's a revelation
of him. It's a revelation of the Father,
the Son, the Holy Spirit. We're going to look at so many
things. And you can't take it all in. This is going to be like Solomon's
table. You're just going to have to sample a little bit here and
there. Because this book, I think that's why it was a little book,
because he couldn't take in the whole book. So they gave him
a little book. What was it? Philemon? Jude,
a little book, but it was sweet too, every part of it. But I
want us to see that this is a revelation of God's person, His Word. When I speak of His Word, I'm
not talking about the Bible, the book, but I'm talking about
God's mind, God's heart, His voice, how He speaks, His person,
His works, His power, His glory, His salvation. I was reading the other day,
I was reading God's Word just for my own enjoyment and to bring
it to you. And I was so blessed. I was just overwhelmed by how
marvelous, how amazing God's Word is. Just overwhelmed. Do
you ever get that way? You're at a loss for words because
God's Word is so Amazing, so marvelous, so wonderful. I started writing down some things,
and I couldn't quit writing. The paradox of God's Word. Paradox,
that means two things that seem to differ, that seem to contradict
one another, but no, they're two sides of a coin, they both
are true. Paradox, paradox means two, and
dox, orthodox, both true. The Word of God kills. and makes
a life. God kills and makes a life. So
you see, you can say it's Him. The Word of God wounds us and
heals us. The Word of God cuts, pierces
like a sword, but then it binds us up. The Word of God divides,
separates, but it unites. It joins, it divides us under
the joints and the marrow, that is, very families are divided
over the truth, but it also joins us to God's true family, inseparably. The Word of God empties us, just
empties us, and then it fills us up. Psalm 81.10, I love this. He said, I'm the Lord that brought
thee out of Egypt. Open your mouth wide, and I'll
fill it. They were going to depend on
him for every single meal they had for 40 years. And he did. Bread from heaven, water out
of a rock. The Word of God causes us to
fear. It produces fear in us, but then
produces faith. The Word of God damns us. The
Word of God saves us. The Word of God convicts us.
The Word of God comforts us. He does. The Word of God bankrupts us and makes us indescribably rich.
The Word of God takes everything away from us and then restores
everything 100 fold. The Word of God causes us to
hate ourselves, and then causes us to love God and love others. The Word of God weakens us, shows
us how weak we are, then it gives us strength. The Word of God
shows us, makes us feel filthy, and then He washes us, cleans
us. The Word of God makes us feel
sinful through and through, then He tells us, you're holy, you're
holy. The Word of God exposes us, and
then He covers us. The Word of God makes us sad,
doesn't it? And it makes us glad. The Word
of God, and I often tell you, if you're reading something,
it makes you sad, or it makes you mourn, or it convicts you,
or it makes you feel guilty, or it makes you feel hopeless,
keep reading. Invariably. After the warning,
there'll be a problem. The Word of God shakes us, makes
us tremble, and it soothes us, calms us. The Word of God shuts
our mouths, then makes us sing. The Word of God overwhelms us,
and it undergirds us. The Word of God puts us down,
and then raises us up. The Word of God lays us low.
and lifts us high. The Word of God causes us to
cry, and it makes us laugh. The Word of God. Verse 8 of Revelation, he said,
the voice I heard from heaven spoken to me. He said, go, take
this little book. Send a hand to the angel. Take
it. Go and take it. The Son of God, it's His Word,
and He's called the Word. Same thing with Ezekiel. He took
the Word out of the hand of the angel. He is the Word. It's His
Word. Our Lord said, not one word of
mine. He said, the words I speak, I speak not of myself, but the
Father's in me. Then He called it His Word. Heaven
and earth shall pass away, but not one word of mine shall pass
away. So it's His Word. And God's Scripture,
God's Word says He's magnified His Word above all His name. A man's only as good as his word
used to be. There are very few now that can
take them for their word. You can take God at His word.
His name, that's His name. His name's on the line. His glory's
on the line. His truth's on the line. You
can take Him at His word. But He spake unto me, verse 8, He
said, Go and take this book, verse 8, The little book which
is open unto the angel, it standeth upon a sea. And verse 9, I went
unto the angel and he said unto her, give me the little book.
And she said, take it and eat it up. It's free for the taking. If you're hungry, if you're hungry,
take it. Take, come, take. The water of
life. Water, that's his word. And he said, take that little
book which is open out of the hand of the angel. What did David
say? He said, I'll take it. I'll take
the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord. So he
did. John said, give it to me. And
he said, take it and eat it up. Now this is the same voice that
broke the bread with the disciples and said, take and eat. This. Remember? This is my body,
Broken View, and my blood. Eat it. Drink it. All of it. Either eateth my flesh
and drinketh my blood hath part in me. When you eat something,
you eat food and drink. Goes down into your body, doesn't
it? And it nourishes every joint, everything in your body. So is
the Word of God. It says take and eat it. It causes
us to grow in grace and the knowledge of His dear Son. But here's the
warning and the promise. It's both a warning and a certainty. And it's really a good thing.
He says in verse 9, He said, It shall make thy belly bitter. It shall be sweet in your mouth,
but it's going to make belly bitter. And that's a good thing, a good
thing. In the Passover, Exodus 12, at
the Passover where the lamb was served, and they all ate the
same thing, didn't they? Everyone that was going out of
Egypt ate the same food. They ate lamb, they ate unleavened
bread. And by the word of the Lord,
they were to eat that lamb with Bitter herb, do you remember
that? Bitter herb. Lamb, the lamb is
a sweet, savory meat, a sweet savor of salvation in Christ,
but the bitter herbs, the bitter herbs are our sins that put Christ
on that cross, that necessitated the death of a substitute. Our
sorrows, our tribulations, our trials and our troubles, bitter
herbs. The bitter herbs, the bitterness
of sin, and then the trials, and the troubles, and the tribulations,
and the afflictions, and the things we go through in this
world make the gospel sweet, don't they? You taste something
bitter, and then something sweet after
it makes it that much sweeter, doesn't it? Well, the sweetness
in turn, if you get another taste of that bitter, makes it that
much more bitter, doesn't it? The goodness of God makes our
sin to us worse. So it's bitter, sweet. I jotted down several scriptures.
A couple of ladies asked me for an outline. I'm sorry. It's just
a bunch of scribbling. I jotted down several scriptures
that tell us of the bitterness and tell us of the sweetness. All die. And in Christ, all made
alive. The soul that sinneth, it shall
surely die. He that believeth on the Son
shall never die. And you that were dead and trespassed
in sin hath been quickened. You were children of wrath, even
as others, now fellow citizens of the house of sin. You weighed
in the balance and found one end complete in crap. The handwriting is against you.
He's blotted it out. The wages of sin is death. The
gift of God is eternal life. In my flesh dwelleth no good
thing. In Christ for wholly unblameable and unapprovable, in God's sight. your vein, behold your God. Behold His servant. Behold His
elect. Look to the earth in darkness
and dimness and anguish of spirit. Look unto God and be you saved. We've forgotten past mercies.
He remembered for them His covenant. They got in trouble, Psalm 107.
They got in trouble. He brought them out, all of them.
All of them. They provoked Him. Many times
did they provoke Him. Nevertheless, He saved them for His name's
sake. They cried. He heard. They sinned. He saved them. They fell. He
raised them up. They went astray. He goes and
finds them. They get dirty, he washes them.
They waste their substance, he gives more grain. They hunger,
he feeds them. They thirst, he waters them.
They get naked, he covers them. They're cold, he warms them.
They can't watch for one hour, he watches over them always.
They fall asleep, he never does. So much more. So very much more. Now I want
you to consider with me, it's not going to be a very long message,
and I want you to consider with me some of the, some of, and
you may come up with some more, but some of the things that apply to the, that the Word of
God is called, and the way, and that refer to our God, The Father,
the Son, Holy Spirit referred to his salvation, referred to
his works. Some of these things, okay, everything
in the universe relates to our God and they're all in God's
Word. Everything, okay. The elements. Everything in the elements bears
witness of our God and it's in his Word. The heavens declare
his glory. Permanent, show with his hand.
Light. The entrance of Thy Word giveth
light. Christ is light. Right? The sun. The sun of righteousness. The
rain. He said, My doctrine shall follow
rain. Dew. There's a dew on a tender
grass. The wind. It's the Holy Spirit
who takes the things of Christ. Thunder. When God thunders. Have you ever heard His voice?
Have you ever heard Him thunder? I don't mean outside. Inside. His word, lightning. Fire. That word was a fire in my heart,
in my bosom. Water. Water. Waves. David said, all thy waves have
gone over my head, overwhelmed me. But like that ark undergird
the water. River. The ocean of this ocean,
this full sea. Springs. All my springs are in
thee. All my springs are right here.
Trees. Grass. Pasture. Green pasture. Rock. Oh, the rock. Smooth stones. What David killed the giant with?
One little smooth stone. Like Luther said, one little
word will fill him. All manner of things, the
elements, and there's so many more than scratch the surface. Food. God's word is food. Christ is our food. Seed. That's the first thing he created
was the grass and the trees that bore, and the fruit bearing seed. Everything that has a seed in
it. Seed's amazing. There's nothing more amazing
than feeding the birds and filling up their They're bird feeder
with black oil sunflowers, you know, and I let it run out sometimes,
and I think, they don't need me. Do you know how much seed
there is? And he feeds, how many birds
are there? How much seed is there? Oh, seed. That is, you are herbs. Herbs,
medicinal, wine. Oh, the wine of God's Word that
makes our hearts glad and boil. It soothes our aching head, doesn't
it? He does. Spirit of God, Spirit
of Christ, fruit. Beautiful. Is there anything
more beautiful? Anything more savory? Anything more luscious?
Anything more moist? Anything more beautiful? Anything
more diverse? Fruit. Yeah, God's word is. God's son
is. Fruit. Bread. Bread. Nothing smells like it. Sweet
savor. You can almost taste bread when
you smell it. That's the word savor. Sweet
savor. Taste and smell. It goes together
to make. Got to have it. Bread. Meat. Meat. The only thing that
really fills you up. I'm sorry. But it is. I know from experience. I was
a vegetarian a long time. Hungry all the time. Never did
get full. Milk. I know lactose intolerant. Milk. Is there anything more
wonderful? I love milk now more than I ever
did. I was born loving it. Oh, he says, desire the sincere
milk of the word. And we're going to talk about
body parts in a minute, and we can talk in Isaiah about God's
breasts, that we suck from the breast of consolation. The word,
the prophet, two of them, the prophets and the apostles. God's
word, milk. Can't get enough. Can't get enough. Love it, love it, love it. Makes
your bones, makes your skeleton, makes your foundation strong. Not a bone will be broken. Milk. Butter. That's milk churned up. Worked up. Honey. Our Lord ate butter and
honey. It spoke of Him eating butter
and honey. Honey. Honey. Honey. Is there anything
sweeter than honey? Nothing. Nothing. Sap from a tree. Spices. Salt. Is there anything like salt? Nothing on earth like salt. Our
Lord said every sacrifice will be salted with salt. Every sacrifice
in this book is found in this book. Salt. It's Christ. Salt. Word. Truth. Salt. Let your speech be with
grace seasoned with salt. Let it have Christ in it. The
truth in it. Dwelling, the Word of God, our
Lord Himself and His Word, are, are, is, are, are, are, is, are? I don't care. Our dwellings. Dwellings, the cleft of the rock,
the cave, pavilion. Psalm 27 in it, that He's to
hide me in His pavilion. That's like a little ark made
of, that's the suites of the tabernacles, the booths, like
Moses' little ark that he was in. That's our Lord. Habitation,
a tabernacle, temple, home, any place like home. Yeah, our Lord
is in there, and with his people. God's house, refuge. Oh, refuge. City of refuge. City. Those of you who don't like cities,
you like this city, don't you? Full of holy people. Cities. Fortress. Impregnable. High tower. You should get advantage
points, see everything very clearly. High tower. Wings. Under His wing. All in all, it's
good. Weapons. God's Word. God Himself. God
the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. His word is our defense
and offense. A sword, a two-edged sword, out
of his mouth, a two-edged sword. A rod of iron, a rod of iron. That's our Lord's word. A hammer
is not my word as a hammer, the Lord said. A hammer? A bow and arrow. The arrows are sharp in the hearts
of the king's enemies, aren't they? They went into my heart
and pierced it. Still do. Oh, but he pierced
others. Bow and arrow? Shield. Shield. You need no other. Shield. Sling. A sharp sword. A knife. Music. God's Word is music. God Himself. The psalm. The sweet psalmist of Israel.
Is that talking about David? No, not Christ. Christ is the
one who taught him every psalm. Taught him to play music. His voice. Our Lord sang. No
man spake like He did. Can you imagine hearing Him sing? Perfect timing. From the bottom
of his heart, the top of his lung. He didn't sit. Sometimes music can send chills
up my spine. Can it you? Just imagine what
it was like to hear him sing and what it will be like to sing
in that day. The Lord loves music. He invented
music. He invented instruments of music.
He said, let everything you make play music unto me. He said,
let every mouth sing. Sing. Music, the timbrel, the
vial, the cymbal, stringed instrument, the trumpet. Everybody's going
to hear a trumpet. Ray had heard a trumpet. It played
one note, middle C, loud and clear. And Rahab said, redemption! His body, the Word of God are
His eyes. His heart, His hands, He upholds
all things with the Word of His power. His hands, His arm, He's
made bare the right arm of His glory. His breasts, His bosom,
His mouth, His lips, His cheek, and even calls the Word of God
a kiss. Let him kiss me with the kisses
of his mouth. Here, being kissed by the Lord,
by His Word of affection, you think, I believe He loves me. Oh, and what about His power? His Word is His power. He created
all things by the Word of His power. Created all things. Let
there be light. God doesn't need any means for
anything. He made everything without any
means. Let there be light. And you know what? There was
light. He controls all things with the Word. He doesn't need...
Means he might use him, might not. He can just speak. That centurion said, Lord, I'm
not worthy for you to come into my house. You just speak and
let him. And he did. He did. Controls all things. He upholds
all things. He destroys all things. Lord God, someday you're not
going to destroy this world with a nuclear bomb. He doesn't need
that. He's going to destroy it with
the brightness of His coming, the Scripture said. He's just
going to say, like He created, He said, let there be light.
He's going to say, let there be no more. He gives life with the Word.
Gives life. You have to quicken. How? By
His Word. Born again, begotten, incorruptible,
see, the Word of God. This is the gospel, which by
the gospel is preached to you. He leads us by his word. He teaches
us by his word. He chastens us. Oh, doesn't the
word of God chasten you more than anything else? He doesn't
have to whip us, just speak. My dad was telling somebody,
he was a very kind man, merciful man, loving man, wonderful father. I loved him, he loved me, I knew
he loved me. I could tell. He'd look at me,
I knew he loved me, but sometimes those eyes would wither me, just
melt me, put fear in me. You know what I'm talking about?
Steve just, ah. But it doesn't last long. His
anger endures but a moment. I'm going to put an article by It was, I forget who wrote it,
it was a great article on Simon Peter, the Lord looking at him.
After he denied him, the Lord just looked at him. And it killed
him. Killed him. But then a little
while later, brought him back. God's Word, it's amazing isn't
it? It's how we grow. What about his work? What about
his promises? What about his oaths? What about
words like love, mercy? Any sweeter words than these?
Love. The old manner of love. Mercy. Compassion. They fail not. Forgiveness. If you need forgiveness, He forgiveth
all our transgressions. All of them. Pardon. Boy, if you're guilty on death
row, pardon. Sweet word. Redemption. Redemption. Adoption. Is that a sweet word
to you, Ed and Barry? Adoption? You're sitting here
today because of adoption. Two-fold adoption. Because a
man named Barry adopts it, and he's white. And I'm much higher
than he is. You're having a problem. Adoption. Salvation. Lift up your head. Redemption draws nigh. Salvation
is near. Oh, I'm out of time, but I'm
not out of truth. We could go on forever, couldn't
we? Isn't God's word wonderful? Bitter, yet sweet. And you need the one for the
other number. Thank God for his blessed word.
Thank God for his blessed son. Thank God for his blessed God.
Okay, stand with me. Father in heaven, thank you again.
May we have a better appreciation for Your Word, a better love
for it, a greater desire for it. We hope and pray that You've
given us a greater appetite, hunger and thirst for You, for
Your Word, for You, Lord. I'll just read a book, but for
You to speak to us. Oh, Psalm 29, the Word of the
Lord is powerful. Oh, Lord, speak to our hearts.
Speak to the hearts of our loved ones. the hearts of the lost. Speak, Lord. Create life. Give life. Give comfort. Give
peace. Chasten. Reprove. Rebuke. Correct. Console. Give fear. Take it away. Kill. Make alive. Wound and heal. All these things,
Lord. Speak. Speak, O Lord. Speak to us through
Your Word. We give thanks for it and for Thee and for Thy Son.
In Christ's name, amen.